One dip or two?

With the US lifting their debt ceiling to a staggering $16.7tn and a large number of high street stores going in to administration, it doesn’t look as though the economic climate is going to improve any time soon.  So what does this mean for UK businesses? Are we, as some reports suggest, at the start of a ‘double dip’ and if so what can be done to protect you and your businesses.

Firstly, its imperative to identify the new risks we face.  Employee fraud and theft are both on the increase.  ECS were the victims of theft recently when our air conditioning units were stolen from our premises which just goes to show no one is immune.

Being able to identify risks early means that with a few simple steps you can mitigate or even remove them.  Improving security and checking you have the relevant insurance cover in place can take only a few minutes.

If you’re concerned about the risks you and your business may encounter over the coming years, please feel free to contact ECS Insurance Brokers on 0114 280 2830.  See some of our other articles including the Which business insurance is right for you Tool on our blog page

Staff Dishonesty – it’s on the increase!

Whether it’s due to the effects of the economy with desperate people taking desperate action, or whether it’s just down to a decreasing lack of respect for others or the fact that the current legal systems produces little fear of retribution I guess we’ll never know but the future of more and more businesses are being threatened by their own employees.

The incidence of theft &/or fraud by an employee is on the up and we know of just 3 such incidents running into £hundreds of thousands.

Many businesses are run on blind trust, with key personnel often being entrusted with the authority to undertake financial transactions with few checks in place….. after all that’s because you trust them.

That trust can and does get abused, costing UK businesses £millions.

A recent discovery for a Sheffield company was that one of their senior employees had embezzled over £120,000 over a 4 year period by manipulating accounts so it appeared suppliers had been paid….in reality the money was paid into the employee’s personal accounts but it took years to uncover.

It’s not only money at risk but stock can be misappropriated and it’s amazing how this can add up over a period of time.

It’s a real smack in the teeth when you are paying someone to steal from you.

A standard business insurance policy will not cover such eventualities but the cover is available. At ECS we regularly discuss this option with clients but often business owners believe it won’t happen to them, they know and trust their senior people…….but so did those who were embezzled !

To find out more about insuring against this, contact ECS Insurance Brokers on 0114 2802830 or enquiries@ecsbrokers.com